Chapter 1 · Once upon a time
It starts with a place
Every good story starts somewhere: a castle on a hill, a house at the end of a lane. In story time we always ask the children where they think we are.
Children's bookshop · Brindle Cross
Stories that pop out of the page
Picture books, first chapters and big adventures, every one read by us before it reaches the shelf. Come for story time on Saturdays, stay in the cushion corner as long as you like.
No. 001The Folded MoonOpened [year] · Market Row
Our shelves
A book for every age
The shop is arranged by age, from board books you can chew to novels for the bus to school. Ask us anything: we have read them.
0–3
First books
Board books, touch-and-feel, lift-the-flap and songs to read aloud.
3–6
Picture books
Bedtime stories, funny ones, and the ones you will be asked to read a hundred times.
6–9
First chapters
Short chapters, big pictures, and the first books children read all by themselves.
9–12
Big adventures
Maps, mysteries, dragons and friendships, for readers who stay up with a torch.
How a story works
Turn the page, see it pop up
Chapter 2 · Into the woods
Then someone gets lost
An owl who lost her hoot, a fox without a map. The middle of a story is where the listening gets quiet and the eyes get wide.
Chapter 3 · Across the sea
They go further than they thought
Boats, balloons and borrowed courage. This is the part children act out afterwards on the cushions, with the cushions as boats.
Chapter 4 · Home again
And everyone gets home
Under the same moon, a little different than before. Then somebody always asks to read it again.
Staff picks
Books we keep recommending
Ages 3–6£12.99
The Owl Who Lost Her Hoot
by Hazel Penrose
A sleepy owl, a lost hoot and a forest full of helpers
Ages 4–7£7.99
Pip and the Paper Boat
by Marigold Fenn
A mouse, a folded boat and the longest stream in the world
Ages 6–9£9.99
The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat
by Rowan Ellery
Every night the light goes round. Tonight the cat goes too.
Story time
Saturdays at ten
Half an hour of stories in the cushion corner, read with all the voices, followed by something to make. Free, for ages 2 to 7 and whoever brings them.
- Every Saturday, 10:00–10:30
- Free, no booking needed
- Crafts afterwards at the big table
Schools
Bring the whole class
Class visits with a story, a book hunt and a little money to spend, author visits in your school, and book lists for every year group.
- Class visits on weekday mornings
- Author visits booked through us
- Book lists by year group, free
- books on the shelves
- 4,000+
- story times a year
- 52
- booksellers who read them all
- 3
- very squashed cushion corner
- 1
Counted in the shop, autumn 2026.
Kind words
What readers say
“[A quote from a parent or a young reader about the shop]”
[Name, age] “[A quote from a teacher about a class visit]”
[Name, school]
The journal
News from the shop
Our new story corner
Twelve cushions, a small armchair and the shelf of books we read most at story time. Here is how we built it, and why it is at the back of the shop.
The shop
How to make a pop-up card
The card we make at our workshops: one fold, two cuts and an animal that jumps out. You need paper, scissors and a glue stick.
Make it
Five books for the last light
The bedtime books we give to parents who are tired of reading the same one every night, from board books to first chapters.
Book lists
The Moon Letter
Once a month: new books we love, story time themes and events before they fill up.
Come and turn the pages
We are on Market Row, open six days a week. The cushion corner is free to sit in for as long as a story takes.